On the mood of Canadians and voters in other Western nations:
It really sucks right now. Like, everything sucks for people, even in Canada. We’re supposed to be polite and nice, but, man, people are mad. People are mad at governments because things aren’t going all that well and people are worried. So, yeah, it’s a tough time.
We know things are going to start getting better. Inflation is coming down. We think interest rates are going to start coming down probably middle of next year. We’re launching massive housing investments. Hopefully, people are going to start seeing things get better.
On the political consequences of that mood:
People are anxious because that promise of progress no longer seems to hold. A sense of optimism is gone right now — or it’s at least really strained. There are challenges that people are facing that are undermining our sense that our institutions, that our democracies are actually functioning well.
They’re falling into the trap that there are simple, easy answers that fit on a bumper sticker or in a TikTok video for any and all of these questions. And that’s where the populism comes through and the anti-enlightenment mistrust of experts and facts and science that is running rampant in aggressively populist circles. But it is a very compelling narrative to turn to. When you can’t put food on the table, when you’re scared to walk down the street, you’re more likely to vote for a strongman that says, ‘Everything’s going to be OK, even if I’m going to take away some of your freedoms or some of your rights.’
That’s the thing that worries me.
The way to solve that isn’t to come out with better slogans. It’s to actually solve the challenge of people being optimistic about the future and feeling: Oh, there is a path for me to be successful.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The roughly hourlong conversation, of course, was dominated by a discussion of Mr. Trudeau’s startling allegation that the government of India was connected to the assassination of a Sikh nationalist near a temple in Surrey, British Columbia.
It was a stunning accusation: that Canada had intelligence showing that “agents of the Indian government” were involved in the shooting death of a Canadian citizen in British Columbia.
My colleague in Montreal, Norimitsu Onishi, went to Surrey to visit Mr. Nijjar’s temple, the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, which adopted a more strident and political bent after he took over its leadership.
Mujib Mashal, Hari Kumar and Suhasini reported from New Delhi about India’s longstanding claim that Canada and several other countries have stood idly by as extremist Sikh groups have supported a secessionist cause that threatens the Indian state.
And Mujib, The Times’s bureau chief for South Asia, appeared on “The Daily” to discuss Mr. Trudeau’s allegation and what India’s reaction tells us about the era of its leader, Mr. Modi.
During a visit to Canada, President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that pulling back on support for Ukraine would erode its war effort and empower Russia.
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